8yo had gun, 7yo hit

A Chicago mother has been charged with child endangerment after a gun in her second grader’s backpack accidentally discharged at school, injuring a 7-year-old classmate, police said yesterday. The 28-year-old woman appeared in court yesterday on three misdemeanour child endangerment counts. A judge ordered her release from Cook County Jail on US$1000 ($1580) bond. During the hearing, prosecutors alleged the woman’s 8-year-old son found the gun underneath her bed and took it to Walt Disney Magnet School on the city’s North Side on Wednesday. The mother has a valid firearm owners’ identification card. According to police, the backpack was in the boy’s classroom when the gun discharged. The Chicago SunTimes reported that prosecutors said during the hearing the bullet ricocheted off the floor and grazed the child’s abdomen. The child was taken to a hospital in good condition, police said.